Cecil Frances Alexander took her position as an Anglican bishop’s wife very
seriously.
She accompanied her husband throughout his Ireland
travels, scolding the wicked and praising the good, and most of all working
with the youngsters, for whom she wrote a number of little poems and hymns. Her most famous collection was
published in 1848 – Hymns for Little Children – and it was here that
"Once in Royal David’s City" first appeared. A year later, H. J.
Gauntlett discovered Mrs. Alexander’s poem and set it to music. The city, of
course, is Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus and of His ancestor King David.

Editor's Note:

As we all know, Mary and Joseph were there to be counted in the
census, which, as in our day, determined the
tax distribution and
burden of many communities, and was a real hardship for the
poor
who had to travel across Israel.

William C. Egan, The History of Carols

Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander published this in a
collection of her hymns in
1848. The wife of the primate of Ireland, she wrote many hymns to help explain
the Gospel messages. Composer Henry Gauntlett, who wrote more than ten thousand
hymns, provided the melody. Best recording: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Editor's Note:

Since 1918, this carol has had the distinction of being played as the
processional hymn during the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on
Christmas Eve at King's College, Cambridge, and is one of only two carols or
hymns which had the distinction of being played annually (the other is Hark The Herald Angels
Sing). Erik Routley writes that the remarkable harmonization of the
version played at King's was by their organist in 1919, Dr.
Arthur Henry Mann, "with subtle art that arrangement turns the homely
children's hymn into a processional of immense spaciousness."
See: Erik Routley, The English Carol.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1959, p. 231. See generally:
Carol Services and
Carols and
Hymns from the Festival Of Nine Lessons and Carols.

According to Julian, this hymn is based on the words of the Creed, "Who was
conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary." See:
John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, 1892, 1907, p. 869.